I. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to providing an alternative delivery point code. More particularly, the present invention relates to providing an alternative delivery point code based upon a secondary element if delivery data includes the secondary element.
II. Background Information
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent government agency that provides mail delivery and other services to the public. The USPS is widely recognized as a safe and reliable means for sending and receiving mail and other items. With the advent and steady growth of electronic mail and electronic commerce, the physical mail stream will increasingly be utilized for sending and receiving packages and other items.
The USPS processes and delivers billions of items each year. The efficiency of the USPS, or other item delivery services, for example, may be impacted when items are not sorted for delivery according to each individual destination or delivery point. Sorting items according to each individual destination (for example, an apartment, a suite, or any other delivery point) may ensure a more expeditious delivery and decrease misdirected items.
Sequencing may be used to sort items for delivery. By proper sequencing, items may be sorted in the same order in which they are to be delivered. Consequently, as a delivery system operator traverses houses, apartments, businesses, and other destinations, sequenced items to be delivered by the delivery system operator have been pre-arranged (sequenced) in the same order that the delivery locations are visited. In order to properly sequence the items, it is important that each item's address correspond to a unique delivery point.
A delivery point's address may comprise, but is not limited to, a street record, a high rise record, a rural route, or a post office box, for example. A street record (or street number, for example) may identify a single delivery point such as a house or an office, for example. A problem may arise when there is more than one delivery point with the same address. Examples of multiple delivery points with the same address may include a house with an apartment built over a garage or a triplex with only one house number.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the USPS, for example, currently uses the last two digits of the street address to identify the delivery point for sorting and sequencing purposes. For example, a house at 123 Main Street, Osage City, Kans. 66523-1439, may have a normal delivery point code comprising 66523-1439-23. However, if there were several apartments at the same address, the normal delivery point code may be the same for each apartment. For example, a first item 105 and a second item 110, while directed to two different apartments, may be given the same normal delivery point code of 23.
Great inefficiencies are created in the procedure described in FIG. 1 because, for example, two delivery points may have the same normal delivery point code. Accordingly, efficiently sorting, sequencing, and delivering items to two delivery points having the same normal delivery point code remains an elusive goal. Thus, there remains a need for efficiently providing improved delivery point codes that may be unique to each given delivery point. In addition, there remains a need for efficiently providing an improved delivery point code based upon a secondary element, if delivery data corresponding to the delivery point includes the secondary element.